


Awaiting Return

by Sokorra



Series: 2019 Prompt Collection [8]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: 100th work!, Extended Cut, F/M, canon fix it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:13:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23638879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sokorra/pseuds/Sokorra
Summary: Arya has returned, having made some decisions on her journey west.
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters
Series: 2019 Prompt Collection [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1332982
Comments: 3
Kudos: 32





	Awaiting Return

**Author's Note:**

> This is an extension of the prompt for May 2. It's not too much longer then the original, but there is some slight word change.

I hope you're better off without me

In your bed and sleeping soundly

Dreaming in the arms of someone new

I hope you're better off without me

Bet you love the one you found

He's perfect for you, everything you need

I hope you're better without me

-With Confidence “Paquerette (Without Me)”

* * *

It seemed one could only run so far before what you were running from came back to haunt you. She had given herself a mission, a goal to focus herself on to keep from dealing with all the messy emotions she rather not deal with. However, the ocean was large and gave one more time to think then she had anticipated.

She missed all of them and hoped they were all doing well. She wasn't sure if she missed him most of all because of her regrets or because out of all those she loved, their goodbye had been the most likely to be final. A nod from across the room, that was it. She didn't regret saying no, as she hadn't been ready. She wasn't sure when she would be ready. But as she sailed from port to port, finding connections between the west and the east on the other side of the world she couldn't help but want it.

Not the ladyship, but the marriage. Waking up beside him each morning. Both of them doting on nieces or nephews they would foster when they got older. Knowing at the end of every adventure he would be waiting for her. 

But she had said no and chosen another path. A path she didn't quite regret, even as she missed him.

She went back and forth from hoping he had moved on and was happy with someone to hoping he had waited the five years she had been away for her to come back. She felt guilt at that, not wanting him to be lonely. She knew his new path would be hard, adjusting to running a castle. He would have his advisors of course, but he wouldn't really know them. 

She hadn't told him how much she really did love him. He may wear the sign of the stag now, a fully recognized Baratheon, but he would always be her bull, the boy who ran away in the woods with her. The one who made her special weapons. She loved him with all her heart and would often think of the what-ifs. But she had simply told him that wasn't her.

The lady wasn't her. The woman loving him? That was totally her. And possibly another person, if she had waited too long to come back. There might be another woman who saw what she had. Who said yes, and now woke up with him in the morning, took care of his household and gave him the children she knew he would want.

She wasn't sure that she could ever give him that, even if he had waited. 

She hoped this woman knew how lucky she was. That they were happy, and healthy. She wanted it all for him even if it hurts to imagine him with someone else. She had been the one to break things. She couldn't be mad if he had fixed it without her.

Still, as she stood waiting to have an audience with the Lord Paramount she couldn't help but be anxious. Part of her wanted to go back to not knowing, while the other was longing to know. To see with her own eyes that he was happy and whole.

"Arya?" She closed her eyes at the sound of his voice. He sounded just the same, his voice maybe a tad deeper. She took a deep breath before turning around to face him.

"My Lord," she said with a smile. 


End file.
